Music and Brain

Language, Music and Brain

LibraryOfCongress—西元2009年07月23日—A fascinating discussion of the use of classical music by law enforcement and other cultural institutions as social control, to quell and prevent crime. Their conversation touches on how classical music is viewed in contemporary culture, how it can be a tool for discouraging criminal activity and anti-social behavior, as well as its history as a mind-altering experience.

LibraryOfCongress—西元2009年07月23日—In our everyday lives, language and instrumental music are obviously different things. Neuroscientist and musician Ani Patel is the author of a recent, elegantly argued offering from Oxford University Press, "Music, Language and the Brain." Oliver Sacks calls Patel a "pioneer in the use of new concepts and technology to investigate the neural correlates of music." In Patel's presentation, he discusses some of the hidden connections between language and instrumental music that are being uncovered by empirical scientific studies.

The Music and the Brain Lecture Series is a cycle of lectures and special presentations that highlight an explosion of new research in the rapidly expanding field of "neuromusic." Programming is sponsored by the Library's Music Division and its Science, Technology and Business Division, in cooperation with the Dana Foundation.

Aniruddh Patel is the Esther J. Burnham Senior Fellow in Theoretical Neurobiology at the Neurosciences Institute.

UCtelevision—西元2008年01月22日—In this edition of "Grey Matters," Aniruddh Patel, of the Neurosciences Institute, discusses what music can teach us about the brain, and what brain science, in turn, can reveal about music. Series: "Grey Matters" [4/2006] [Science] [Show ID: 11189]

LibraryOfCongress—西元2009年07月27日—Music employs a number of mechanisms for conveying emotion. Some of them are shared with other modes of expression (speech, gesture) while others are specific to music. The most unique way that music communicates emotion is through the use of contrastive scale types. While Westerners are familiar with the major/minor distinction, the use of contrastive scale types in world musics is universal.

Looking at the expression of emotion in both Western and non-Western musics, Brown invokes the theory of Clore and Ortony, who posit three categories of emotions 1) "outcome" emotions related to the outcomes of goal-directed actions (e.g., happiness, sadness); 2) "aesthetic" emotions related to the appraisal of the quality of objects (e.g., like, dislike); and 3) "moral" emotions related to an assessment of the agency of individuals actions (e.g., praise, scorn). While representational art-forms like theater or dance can represent all three categories, music is probably most adept at expressing "outcome" emotions, such those that sit along the happy/sad spectrum.

LibraryOfCongress—西元2009年07月28日—Michael Kubovy and Judith Shatin, both from the University of Virginia, discuss "The Mind of the Artist." Debate has long raged about whether and how music expresses meaning beyond its sounding notes. Kubovy and Shatin discuss evidence that music does indeed have a semantic element, and offer examples of how composers embody extra-musical elements in their compositions.

Michael Kubovy is a cognitive psychologist who studies visual and auditory perception.

LibraryOfCongress—西元2009年07月30日—Kay Redfield Jamison, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and co-director of the Johns Hopkins Mood Disorders Center at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, convened a discussion of the effects of depression on creativity. Joining Jamison were two distinguished colleagues from the fields of neurology and neuropsychiatry, Dr. Terence Ketter and Dr. Peter Whybrow. The Music and the Brain series is co-sponsored by the Library's Music Division and Science, Technology and Business Division, in cooperation with the Dana Foundation.

The "Depression and Creativity" symposium marks the bicentennial of the birth of German composer Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), who died after a severe depression following the death of his sister, Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, also a gifted composer.

One of the nation's most influential writers on creativity and the mind, Kay Redfield Jamison is a noted authority on bipolar disorder. She is the co-author of the standard medical text on manic-depressive illness and author of "Touched with Fire," "An Unquiet Mind," "Night Falls Fast" and "Exuberance: The Vital Emotion."

Dr. Terence Ketter is known for extensive clinical work with exceptionally creative individuals and a strong interest in the relationship of creativity and madness. He is professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and chief of the Bipolar Disorders Clinic at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Dr. Peter Whybrow, an authority on depression and manic-depressive disease, is director of the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is also the Judson Braun Distinguished Professor and executive chair of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

LibraryOfCongress—西元2009年08月13日—Director of McGill University's Laboratory for Musical Perception, Cognition and Expertise and best-selling author of "This is Your Brain on Music," Daniel Levitin blends cutting-edge scientific findings with his own experiences as a former record producer and still-active musician.

The Music and the Brain Lecture Series is a cycle of lectures and special presentations that highlight an explosion of new research in the rapidly expanding field of "neuromusic." Programming is sponsored by the Library's Music Division and its Science, Technology and Business Division, in cooperation with the Dana Foundation.

Daniel Levitin is a cognitive psychologist, neuroscientist, record producer, musician, and writer. He is currently James McGill Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at McGillUniversity in Montreal. He has published scientific articles on absolute pitch, music cognition and neuroscience and is more widely known as the author of two best-selling books, "This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of a Human Obsession" and "The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature." He worked as a producer and sound designer on albums by Blue Oyster Cult, Chris Isaak, and Joe Satriani; as a consultant to Steely Dan and Stevie Wonder; and as a recording engineer for Santana and The Grateful Dead.

Neurologist Richard Cytowic rediscovered the involuntary joining of different senses in 1980 and returned it to the scientific mainstream. In his recent book, "Wednesday is Indigo Blue," Cytowic sums up 30 years of exploration into synesthesia's place in both science and art. Far from a mere curiosity, it is an elevated form of the perception everyone already has. Minds that function differently are not so strange after all, and everyone can learn from them. Brains are already highly cross-wired, and with 1 in 23 people having the trait, synesthesia may hold a key to human creativity.

LibraryOfCongress—西元2009年02月10日—Mark Katz, a professor at the Peabody Conservatory of Music at The Johns Hopkins University, discussed his book, "Capturing Sound: How Technology Has Changed Music." The event was sponsored by the Library's JohnW.KlugeCenter, the Music Division and the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. According to Katz, who teaches in the Department of Musicology at the Peabody, there is more to sound recording than just recording sound. Not just a tool for the preservation of music, the technology is a catalyst for change. In "Capturing Sound," Katz writes a wide-ranging, informative and entertaining history of recording's profound impact on the musical life of the past century, from Edison to the Internet.